— Jacko
Jabber —
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson's estate has opposed a bid by the late
singer's father to receive a monthly allowance, saying it would take money away
from the singer's young children. Attorneys for estate administrators John
Branca and John McClain on Thursday filed papers opposing Joe Jackson's efforts
to get more than $15,000 a month from his son's estate. The filing states
Joe Jackson has failed to show that his superstar son supported him while he was
alive. Jackson died June 25 in Los Angeles at age 50. The filings by the estate note that the singer omitted his father as a
beneficiary in his will and trust, and that any money paid to Joe Jackson would
reduce the assets available for Michael Jackson's mother and three children.
The children, Katherine Jackson and various unnamed charities are the only
beneficiaries. Katherine Jackson and the children are receiving more than
$86,000 a month, and the administrators recently moved to increase the monthly
stipends. The exact allowance amount has not been released. Joe Jackson filed for the monthly stipend in November, saying he had little
income and relied on his son's help to survive. He is seeking payment for
expenses that include $1,200 a month on rent for his Las Vegas home; $2,500 to
eat out; $1,000 on entertainment, gifts and vacations; $2,000 on air travel and
$3,000 on hotels. It will be up to a judge to decide whether Joe Jackson receives any money
from the estate. A hearing on the petition is scheduled for Jan. 28. A former steelworker in Gary, Indiana, Joe Jackson managed and trained his
children and organized the Jackson 5. He has been married to Katherine
Jackson for 50 years, but he lists his home in Las Vegas. She lives at a
family home in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. With stunning predictability, representatives promoting Michael Jackson's
"Neverland" in Gary are determined to bury an idea that may have merit under an
avalanche of delusional hucksterism. Now, Mayor Rudy Clay and Odie Anderson have announced a museum, performing
arts center, golf course and a replica of Jackson's Neverland Ranch, to be
located in downtown Gary. As Michael Jackson spent most of his adult life avoiding individuals like
Clay and Anderson, it is obvious that in death, his reputation and artistic
achievement are vulnerable to their crass exploitation of his birth and early
life in Gary. Our mayor must end this embarrassing and ghoulish abuse of Michael Jackson's
legacy and the genuine affection of his fans to honor him in his home town. Stop promoting ridiculous and impossible schemes, which only serve to make
our city and residents appear as a laughingstock for the nation. Would the mayor and Anderson instead consider using the donated money to
begin some clean-up around the Jackson home and erect a tasteful statue of
Michael, as an appropriate memorial and testament of love and gratitude? He deserves that from our city -- his home, forever -- Gary, Indiana. Jim Nowacki
The Gary, Indiana
Reaction
Compiled from Reports Appearing in His Hometown
Paper, the Post-Tribune
Jackson Estate Opposes Stipend for
Joe
Compiled From
http://www.newsok.com/, By Anthony McCartney
[22 Jan 2010]
[8 Jan 2010]
Gary
Joe Still Looking for Handouts from Michael
Joe Jackson has requested an allowance from the estate of his late son Michael, saying the pop star supported him for years before his death.
In court papers filed in Los Angeles, the 81-year-old’s lawyers said his
monthly expenses are $20,000, but he receives only $1,700 from the state.
Joe listed his expenses: $2,500 for eating out, $2,000 for flying in
airplanes, $3,000 for hotel rooms, $1,000 for groceries, $1,200 for rent, $50
for charity. They added that the pop star’s estate has earned an estimated
$100m since his sudden death on 25 June.
A hearing to assess the request is expected to take place early next year.
Michael Jackson’s will omitted his father, but made provision for his mother and children.
Who's Got Cash for Gordon Keith's Legal Fight with Michael Jackson's Family?
This email was received from William Adams (aka Gordon Keith) of Gary.
He helped launch the career of the Jackson 5 back in the 1960s. I don't
know exactly how much he helped make the Jackson 5 international
superstars? He's convinced he played a major role and that he's never
received enough credit, or financial compensation.
I found his long-winded email amusing and I thought you might, too.
Especially its last line, which says it all. Here it is in its unedited
entirety:
"Since the Joseph/Katherine/Jackson Five (Jackson Estate) double cross of William Adams ( d.b.a. Gordon Keith ) and Atlantic/Atco records around March or April of 1968 they have continually thru presently connived - collude - conspire and spread malicious lies against Gordon Keith, stole my music-fame and fortune.
"They have done these evil deeds with the help of Mayor Rudy Clay, Mayor
Richard G. Hatcher, Mayor Scott King, Mayor Thomas Barnes, Motown Corp - Berry
Gordy - Marshall Thompson - James Pearson (Baby James) - Atty Richard Arons (
Later on was double crossed by the Jackson 5) - Stevio & his brothers (Guys
& Girls Lounge of Chicago) and their D.J.s, Bobby Taylor of Bobby Taylor
& The Vancovers, Brunswick Records and many others across America & the
world to actually connive, rob and steal from Gordon Keith.
"YOU MIGHT WANT TO LOOK AT THEM AS BEING *THUGS AND CRIMINALS* FOR COMMITING
CRIMES AGAINST GORDON KEITH AND THE WORLD.
"Therefore please donate money to help me litigate against them to defend me and my family. thank you."
School Says 'Beat it' to Jackson Mural
OWINGSVILLE, Ky. - A mural of pop singer Michael Jackson painted by students
at an eastern Kentucky middle school has been halted after complaints from a
local pastor.
The mural was the latest of about a dozen that have been painted in the
hallways at Bath County Middle School. Visual arts teacher Lorraine
Leadingham says a visit by an artist to her class prompted the start of a mural
of the pop music icon, who died June 25.
WTVQ-TV in Lexington reports that Owingsville First Church of God Pastor
Lowell Rice heard about the mural at his church. Rice approached the
school officials to complain about the mural, questioning whether Jackson is an
"appropriate role model."
Leadingham says midway through the painting, her principal told her to stop. She says she doesn't understand why the painting was nixed.
Jackson Never Did a Thing to Help Gary
I have to wonder why I even ask why.
Gary, a once-beautiful city that cannot find a way to save itself and its
people, now wanst to build a museum for Michael Jackson.
What did he ever do for Gary and its people? The city had to pay the
travel expense for his dad to come here and pay tribute. Otherwise, he
would not have come.
What is wrong with the thinking in Gary? Why do we seem surprised that
this city wastes money that it does not have and expects people to come here and
pay to see its native-born Jackson and some photos.
This is joke, but what else do we expect from Gary?
Angelo Lara, Lake Station -
Jackson Museum Takes New
Turn
Compiled From a Post-Trib
Report by Jon Seidel
[26 Aug 2009]
GARY -- A New York City firm that wanted to build a museum honoring Michael Jackson in Gary has abandoned the project citing silence from City Hall, and the man picked by Mayor Rudy Clay to lead a stalled renovation of the former Sheraton Hotel is moving in.
Richard Coles, the principal of New York-based Emmes Group, visited City Hall two weeks ago pitching plans to build a museum at the Village Shopping Center. His company owns the property there, and he said funding is in place to make the project happen. But the company hasn't heard from Gary leaders since that meeting, Coles said, and it's been forced to move in another direction with its properties. "It seems that Gary, Indiana, has yet again missed a valuable opportunity to make something of its city," Coles said Tuesday.
Clay was unavailable Tuesday afternoon for comment.
Phillip Kupritz of the New Gary Development Group said Tuesday he is working with Jackson Museum Performing Arts Center Corp., a firm that incorporated last month in Illinois and launched the Web site www.jacksonmuseum.org to raise money.
Developers are looking at possible locations in Las Vegas, Chicago or Gary. However, Kupritz said a consensus reached at a weekend birthday party in Tinley Park, Ill., for Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson's father, will bring the museum to Gary. "The city of Gary is the place it's going to go," Kupritz said.
The Jackson museum would not be connected to the Sheraton project, Kupritz said, though there are plans to build it downtown. He declined to give a specific location.
Kupritz was introduced to Gary in February 2007 when the mayor announced a plan to turn the dilapidated former Sheraton Hotel into a mixed-use development of retail and senior citizen housing powered by corn and heated with geothermal energy.
The New Gary Development Group, a Chicago-based team of investors led by Kupritz, succeeded in removing 98 percent of the asbestos that was in the building when the plan was announced. It did that work using a $735,000 federal brownfield loan.
Activity at the empty building has been virtually non-existent since that accomplishment in October. An IDEM spokeswoman confirmed last week that her agency's inspectors haven't returned for further review.
Kupritz and city leaders say the national economic recession has hampered
efforts to renovate the Sheraton, freezing up money that would have otherwise
been available to the investors.
_________________
[COMMENT
-GDY]: Rudy has proven himself the astute mover/shaker
once again! He picks a guy with a proven track record of lining his own
pockets, while doing nothing for the residents of Gary. I mean, the
Sheraton Hotel is certainly a major attraction in that magnet of activity,
downtown Gary. Right?
Gary Paid Joe to Attend Son's Memorial
GARY -- Joe Jackson and an Illinois-based musical group charged the city of Gary $5,000 to attend a memorial last month for Jackson's son, the late pop star Michael Jackson, records released Thursday show.
It isn't clear if Gary has paid the bill yet, but a claim form released by City Hall indicates the money will be split between Jackson, Marshall Thompson and the Chi-Lites, which list an address in Midlothian, Ill.
Records that show $200 in meals, $3,000 in limousine services and $1,800 in
hotel rooms were donated to the city. Gary officials have said previously
that those donations were meant for the "celebrity guests" at the
memorial. Overall, the preliminary account of the cost of a hometown
memorial for Michael Jackson at the U.S. Steel Yard baseball stadium indicates
the costs exceeded income by about $3,000.
Clay Wants Museum Downtown, Not at Mall
GARY -- A New York City developer who wants to build a Michael Jackson museum at the Village Shopping Center said he left a City Hall meeting this week with no commitments but an understanding that Mayor Rudy Clay's priority is to revitalize downtown.
Whether Clay's vision for the downtown district can be combined with Coles' vision for the Village isn't clear. Emmes owns the shopping center at 35th Avenue and Grant Street. It doesn't hold any property downtown, though, and Coles said it isn't inclined to invest money there.
"Our commitment is to one thing and one thing only," Coles said. "Ensuring that the Village is at the forefront of a location. But if that happens, it has to be done in concert with whatever the mayor and his staff does with downtown."
Coles told the Post-Tribune last week that he is "very interested" in building a museum honoring Jackson, a Gary native, and he called the Village the "pre-eminent site" for the project.
Clay, though, said members of a city committee working on the project didn't consider the Village to be a "viable option."
"Quickly" Column Comment
I know a great spot for the Michael Jackson museum -- right next to Richard Hatcher's Civil Rights Hall Of Fame.
Joe Jackson Says: Gary Museum in Works
Joe Jackson confirmed that he's collaborating with Mayor Rudy Clay to build a museum devoted to the life and work of the late King of Pop Michael Jackson in Gary. Jackson was interviewed by Access Hollywood at a launch party for his new movie, "Destination Fame," in New York this week. He said the museum will include memorabilia from the Jackson 5.
Clay and Jackson have been working on the project since the Jackson family patriarch visited the city in July, but Michael Jackson's death put it on a fast track. There is no timeline for the museum at the moment.
Earlier this month, Clay told the Post-Tribune that Joe Jackson is forming a
committee to build a family museum, possibly on a city-owned parcel off
Interstate 80-94 near the corner of 25th Avenue and Grant Street.
_________________
[COMMENT -GDY]: This hardly
qualifies as news. Both Joe and Rudy are creatures cut from the same
cloth; "Big on talk, followed up by little or no action!
I never abused my son," the former crane operator and boxer from Gary, Indiana, said. "Michael was never beaten."
"I keep watching Paris…she wants to do something." "And Blanket, he can really dance."
Joe revealed he didn't know the location of Michael's body.
He again pointed the finger at Dr. Conrad Murray. "The doctor gave him
something to make him rest and he don't wake up no more," Joe Jackson said on
Larry King. "Something is wrong."
_________________
[COMMENT -GDY]: Well, why
is that Tito says differently with respect to the beatings? How could the
father not know the location of his son's body? Joe and MJ must have
been really close?
How Should Country Recall
Jackson?
Compiled From a
Post-Trib Opinion by Don Kaul, Columnist for The Des Moines
Register
[21 Jul 2009]
He was good, but I didn't know he was that good. He was a truly amazing dancer with a high yet pleasing voice. But most of all, he was an extraordinary showman. Certainly he invented the modern Super Bowl halftime extravaganza with his work in 1993, and he was probably more responsible than anyone for the modern music video and the very existence of MTV.
Even with all that, however, I am surprised at the manner in which the black community has embraced him as one of their own. At the Black Entertainment Television music awards, conducted a few days after Jackson's death, everybody was suddenly his grieving best friend. Jamie Foxx, host of the proceedings, said. "We want to celebrate this black man. He belongs to us and we shared him with everybody else."
Say what?
It seems to me that the whole point of Jackson was his sometimes maddening lack of precise definition. He was as white as he was black, as girlish as he was masculine, as much child as adult. In other words, no matter where you stood, Jackson wasn't that far from you. That was the universality of his appeal.
So now he becomes a hero of the black race? People in black churches are swinging and dancing in the aisles, doing cuts from "Thriller?" I don't get it.
Even less do I get the blacks who blamed his troubles -- and they were many -- on the Vast White Conspiracy. One man-on-the-street, a house painter, told the New York Times: "The system likes to take black men down. They did it to Ali. They did it to Tyson."
Whoa! Wait a minute there. Leaving aside the question of whether it was the system or Mike Tyson who took Tyson down, we're forgetting something here. There is considerable evidence that Michael Jackson was a pedophile as well as a drug addict.
Do we know that for sure? No, but we're sure enough so that we wouldn't let him baby-sit our kids. Sure enough so that we might want to hesitate before putting him up on a pedestal.
Just forgetting about it seems to me more than a little strange?
Michael Jackson Grew Into a Caring
Person
Compiled From a Post-Trib
"Letter to Ed"
[21 Jul 2009]
Labeling Jackson's acts as "eccentric" and "low-life" and him as a "pedophile" only shows people bought the hype that those innuendos were true.
I will pray for those individuals, that none have to experience what Michael Jackson did to achieve what he did and suffer the indignities that others take delight in trespassing upon him even now.
Glenda Smith, Gary -
Young MJ Too Fast for Dad's
Beatings
Compiled From a Report
by AFP- World News Australia
(http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1052607/)
[17 Jul 2009]
Pop legend Michael Jackson used to escape beatings from his father when he was a child by swiftly dodging and weaving his way to safety, his brother Tito Jackson says. Tito said that the future King of Pop's footwork was so fast and so good that his belt-wielding father Joe Jackson was often reduced to laughter in efforts to catch him.
"Most of the time Michael was so quick my father couldn't hit him," Tito said in an interview with London's Daily Mirror newspaper. "He'd swing the belt and Michael would be over there, he'd swing again and Michael would be over here." "My father used to just stop and laugh because he couldn't hit him." "Michael would just dance around him. My father would get tired and give up," he added.
Papa Joe in mourning at the Gary Memorial for his son
Why Did Michael Discard His Black Heritage?
From 1958 to 1968, Michael was nurtured, immersed and socialized in a black world with plenty of positive role models and pro-black examples of success and greatness. Gary was the birthplace and home of many other celebrities and high-profile blacks including Deniece (Chandler) Williams, Fred Williamson, Avery Brooks, William Marshall, The Spaniels, Dick Barnett, Gerald Irons, Willie McCarter, Manny Newsome, Orsten Artis and Glenn Robinson, to name a few. Anyone who lived in or around Gary knows all too well the competitive spirit of Indiana high school basketball in which a black high school, Gary Roosevelt, won the state championship in 1968 and 1991.
With all of his personal success, fame, fortune and power of influence across our global village, why would he reject and sacrifice his beautiful black skin and features and surrender his black racial identity?
In reality, the Michael of recent years resembled a gross misrepresentation of blackness. I really don't expect many whites who may read this article to relate and connect to what is being said here.
If negative feelings regarding black people in America could permeate and dominate the mind-set of a giant cultural icon such as Michael Jackson, then it is certainly understandable to me how young black children in New York City are still choosing white dolls and white images over black dolls and black images as more attractive and more desirable.
So why did Michael so desperately try to change the "Man in the Mirror" once he became a mega superstar and a pop musical icon? What were the root causes for Michael's anti-black attitude and apparent acceptance of pro-white aesthetics. With all of his personal success, fame, fortune and power of influence across our global village, why would he reject and sacrifice his beautiful black skin and features and surrender his black racial identity?
Black self-determination, black pride, identity and self-esteem were obviously repressed in Michael Jackson's life experiences. It is unfortunate for too many of us that when we think we finally have overcome and transcended racial oppression, we foolishly reject and abandon our cultural roots. Even with all his monumental success as "the greatest entertainer of all time," Michael's compassionate and loving spirit fell victim to the ever-present and dangerous, subliminal forces of white racial superiority.
Gary Says Goodbye
GARY -- The hastily organized event showcased Jackson's steelworker father, Joseph Jackson, as well as a cavalcade of former elementary school teachers, neighbors from the gritty Midtown neighborhood and talent show rivals and would-be pop stars.
Organizers said more than 30 Jackson relatives still living in and around Gary were among the 500 people seated in the VIP section. Joe Jackson himself arrived after 8 p.m., and spoke briefly and largely inaudibly to the crowd. The Rev. Jesse Jackson introduced Joe Jackson, lauding the Jackson family for providing discipline and work ethic in their sons. "Before Michael Jackson knew the Jackson 5, he knew a family. He knew Joe Jackson, knew Katherine," Jesse Jackson said.
Mayor Rudy Clay, who lobbied for the memorial service to include Michael's body lying in state at the nearby Genesis Convention Center, presented Jackson with a 6-foot marble slab he said was to be the first piece of a Jackson family museum. Last year, Joe Jackson visited the city and discussed building a museum centered around the tiny home at 2300 Jackson St., where the family lived until moving to California after their hit "I Want You Back" began climbing the pop charts in the late 1960s.
Friday's crowd of about 7,500 thinned as the program continued into its third hour by 9 p.m. Absent from the crowd was the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was a no-show. City officials anticipated an audience of 10,000 to 20,000 at the site, with countless more following a phalanx of media scheduled to cover the event. "I expect more people to converge on Gary, Indiana, than ever in the history of this town," Clay said.
Post-Trib "Quickly" Column
Within hours of Michael Jackson's death people were seen on TV and pictures in the newspapers selling T-shirts with pictures of Michael Jackson and the years of his birth and death on the front. Michael's autopsy wasn't finished before the parasites, vultures and opportunists began to make money on someone else's loss. They should round up all those people, not just in Indiana but everywhere and make them donate their proceeds to charities.
Joe Jackson Calls Death "Foul Play"
Joe Jackson suspects foul play in the death of son Michael Jackson, he says to the press just before he is scheduled to attend the Gary, Indiana memorial for Jackson in the family’s former hometown. "I couldn’t believe what was happening to Michael. I do believe it was foul play. I do believe that," Joe Jackson had told ABC News.
The Jackson family claims to have no knowledge of Michael’s alleged drug usage.
Michael Lies in Rest: Where?
The King of Pop's casket has been housed in a top secret location since his memorial in Los Angeles on Tuesday (07Jul09), when it was displayed for all to see at the Staples Center. Reports suggest his family is awaiting the return of Jackson's brain, which was removed for tests during his autopsy, before planning the singer's burial.
Michael Tied to Berry Gordy, Even in Death
The whereabouts of Jackson’s body after it was taken in a gold-plated casket to a public memorial service at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles on Tuesday remained unclear until now. It is now believed to be in an above ground tomb Berry Gordy bought for his family.
It’s understood his family are divided over Jackson’s final resting place.
MY POINT OF VIEW
I hate to say it, but I don’t trust Jermaine Jackson at all. In my opinion he is the one you have to watch, not Joe Jackson. He is an opportunist and has always been very jealous of Michael because he did not get the attention and his career stalled, while Michael’s took off. This is well known. He was even in the process of writing a tell all book about him. He is a freeloader also and Michael knew it. The brothers are broke because they could not hang onto Michael’s coattails. There is a REASON why Michael did not leave them any money, please believe it. Do your research on Jermaine Jackson who has children by his brother’s wife Randy and named his son Jermajesty after Michael named his son Prince. Jermaine Jackson is a fake, don’t believe what you see and hear from him on TV, its all about the money to him. Now that Michael is gone he sees his own career finally taking off, which is one reason he sang at the services. I ts a lot of nasty stuff going on with the Jackson family.
NIMBY |
Oh, God, please no … keep this insanity away from the Santa Ynez Valley!!! If Gary, Indiana wants the circus, then let the city have it. There is no amount of "tourist dollars" that could make up for what would happen if Jackson’s poor abused corpse ends up at Neverland.
MIKE |
As a Christian, I should not be saying this, but the only way the Jackson family will ever come together and stop the bickering will be by the death of Daddy Joe. This money grabbing so called human being has been the biggest disgrace to this family for many years. Yes, it may have been Joe who brought the Jackson’s to fame, but with his big head, $$$ filled eyes and ego got in the way and his beating of the kids, that took all credibility away from him.
Hometown Comments
I have to admit that putting Michael Jackson's young daughter on stage and giving part of a eulogy for the sake of a Hollywood production was poor taste. I suppose watching the young girl burst into tears is good for the business. . . .
Gary, you deserve what you have. Your city doesn't have two nickels to rub together and, instead of patching potholes, you let the mayor spend thousands of dollars on a Michael Jackson tribute. Mayor Rudy Clay can't see everyone laughing at him, trying to be a big shot. I hope you have set aside thousands more for Karl Malden.
Cause of Death Remains
Unclear
Compiled From
a Report on au.com by Daniel Nasaw
[10 Jul 2009]
CAUSE OF DEATH : Los Angeles assistant chief coroner Ed Winter said investigators were still holding Jackson's brain, or part of it, and it would be returned to the family for interment after further tests.
SIGNS OF MEDIA BACKLASH: "Enough!" wrote New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser. "You got two for the price of one if you attended Jackson's spectacular dog-and-pony show yesterday — a memorial as dignified as a Vegas lounge lizard act combined with the entertainment value of a carnival freak show."
Ca$hing in on MJ
Death It was only a matter of time, but JWR Tours
(www.kingofpoptours.com) has beat others to the punch to open a "hometown" tour
of Michael Jackson-related sites around the area. According to the
company's website: Share in the rich history of 2300 Jackson Street in Gary,
Indiana as J W R Tours takes you to the place where it all began. Our
buses leave from Chicago and take you safely to 2300 Jackson Street, the origin
of the Jackson legend. Along the way you'll be treated to a history lesson
on life in Gary during the time the Jackson family was being formed. The
people and places that make up the environment from which the King of Pop sprang
will guide you through life back then and bring you face-to-face with
greatness. Of course, it'll cost you $55 for an adult and $45 for a
child to take the tour of places like like the Jackson family home, MJ's junior
high school, and even "the corner store they went to often for bread."
Jackson Memorial - Tidbits
— The traffic snarls and logistical nightmares that had been feared by police and city officials did not materialize. Traffic was actually considered by police to be lighter than normal. "I think people got the message to stay home," said California Highway Patrol Officer Miguel Luevano. Besides reporters and those with tickets to the memorial service, the crowd around the Staples Center perimeter numbered only about 1,000, he said.
— Near the service site in downtown's Staples Center, vendors sold Jackson memorabilia such as T-shirts, collages, buttons and bouquets of snapdragons and dahlias.
— Half a dozen protesters stood among fans, condemning Jackson over his child-molestation charges, holding signs that read, "Jacko in Hell," ''You're Going to Hell" and "Mourn for Your Sins."
— The city of Los Angeles set up a Web site Tuesday to allow fans to contribute money to help the city pay for his Staples Center memorial service. Mayoral spokesman Matt Szabo estimated the service will cost $1.5 million to $4 million.
Jacksons Seeks Delay in Naming Executor
LOS ANGELES -- Michael Jackson's family wants a judge to delay a Monday hearing to designate two men listed in Jacko's will as temporary administrators of his estate so that they can look deeper into his affairs, a person close to the family said. The family also wants the additional time to wait and see if another will emerges, as well as to accommodate Jackson's memorial service Tuesday, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly.
Jackson's mother, and those close to her(Gee, could that be Dear Ol' Dad Joe?) want "time to investigate the circumstances and individuals surrounding Michael Jackson during his final days," the person close to the family said. The person close to the Jackson family said Sunday that Katherine Jackson also wants the delay to see if any, newer wills emerge. An older will had already been presented, the person said. "She wants to know what happened to her son before appointing individuals to take over his estate worth over a billion dollars," the person said.
In court filings, Katherine Jackson's attorneys state it would be "premature" to contest the 2002 will, but they also note that several wills may have been filed. The 2002 will stated that Jackson wanted his three children entrusted to his mother, Katherine, who has been named a temporary guardian until July 13.
Last week, Katherine Jackson was given authority over some of her son's possessions, including items taken from his Neverland Ranch that were slated for auction earlier this year, but not his finances. She had sought to control Jackson's finances and the estate of his children, but that was before Branca and McClain filed the will.
Clay, City Should End Jackson Hoopla
Typically, when folks are in love with their hometown, they return often and brag about it to friends and acquaintances. By most accounts, Michael Jackson was not a frequent flyer home. Since he left at age 10, he made just two public appearances in Gary. The entertainer probably spent more time in Dubai and London than in Gary as an adult.
Now that Jackson is dead, Mayor Rudy Clay is beating the drums for the Jackson family to bring Michael home to the Steel City one last time. The mayor's zealous pursuit of a funeral, even one as spectacular as Michael Jackson's, is an exercise in bad taste and self-aggrandizement.
The sad and well-documented life and death of Michael Jackson has become a nonstop television and Internet extravaganza. We get daily updates from Jackson sycophants. It is all Michael, all the time.
So it seems even more distasteful that the mayor of Jackson's own hometown is waging a national campaign for him to "lie in state" in Gary. It would be "a memorial that's fit for the prince of peace and a memorial that's fit for Gary, Indiana's favorite son, the greatest entertainer that ever lived," Clay said recently on a Chicago radio program. The city can rightfully boast it's the hometown of the Jackson family, and it can make its residents and the Jacksons proud with a scheduled July 10 memorial at the U.S. Steel Yard. Beyond that, the legacy in Gary is up to the Jackson family.
Jackson's First Gig Venue For Sale, In Pieces
GARY, Indiana (AFP) — The owner of the nightclub where Michael Jackson first performed professionally with the Jackson 5 wants to sell the building to fans of the King of Pop brick by brick.
Andrew Young, a businessman in Gary, Indiana -- the Jacksons' home town -- said he bought the now shuttered "Mr. Lucky's Lounge" one year ago, with the idea of revitalizing it. That plan has changed since the international pop icon's death last week. "If we have enough interest, we will take it apart by hand, piece by piece, being very careful to preserve every single thing," Young said on Friday.
Jackson Drug Evidence
LOS ANGELES -- The powerful sedative Diprivan was found in Michael Jackson's home, a law enforcement official said Friday as the city planned for a massive crowd at the singer's memorial service. Diprivan is an anesthetic widely used in operating rooms to induce unconsciousness. Also known as Propofol, it's given intravenously and is very unusual to have in a private home.
Local authorities are investigating allegations that the 50-year-old Jackson had been consuming pain-killers, sedatives and antidepressants. Any criminal charges would depend on whether Jackson had been overly prescribed medications, given drugs inappropriate for his needs, or if doctors knowingly prescribed Jackson medications under an assumed name. Additionally, the Feds (DEA) have been called in to investigate possible violation of federal laws.
As Jackson recently prepared for a massive series of comeback concerts, he was so distraught over persistent insomnia that he pleaded for Diprivan, according to Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse who was working with the singer. Lee said she repeatedly rejected his demands because the drug was unsafe.
Post-Trib "Quickly Comments
OK, Mayor Clay, when is the memorial service for Karl Malden? After all, he was a celebrity long before the Jackson 5 hit the airwaves. He deserves equal time.. .
It's obvious that neither Joe Jackson or Rudy Clay went to charm school. They both should dry up and blow away.. .
I can't believe all these tributes about a drug addict who lost his game. . .
I saw Mayor Rudy Clay speaking on the "Larry King Show." He referred to Joe Jackson as the matriarch of the family. Try using the correct word, Mayor Clay.
Entertainers to Perform at Jackson memorial
GARY -- Former Miss Indiana Kellee Patterson and singer Deniece Williams, both Gary natives, have agreed to perform at the city's memorial service for pop star Michael Jackson next week. Patterson will perform a ballad in tribute to Jackson.
Estate of Denial
Jackson’s hometown of Gary, Indiana, angled to have its favorite son buried there and planned a massive memorial service at a local ballpark in July.
Gary Mayor Rudy Clay told a Chicago, Illinois, radio station Tuesday that he has been in contact with the Jackson family about the burial. A burial site could be near a proposed Jackson family museum and a performing arts center, said mayoral spokeswoman Lalosa Burns, who said Clay hadn’t received any confirmation.
Clay told WGN that he expects Jackson’s body, at the least, will be taken to
Gary for a July 10 memorial service at U.S. Steel Works
ballpark.
________________
[Comment
-GDY]: One has to really wonder on what planet Rudy resides?
Jackson came from nothing. The house is in the hood. It is dangerous
to be "out and about" in the area! Museum and performing arts center; Rudy
is either crazy, or on something!
Post-Trib Readers "Quickly" Comments
Why all the hoopla for Michael Jackson? What about Gary-born actor Karl Malden? He has won an Oscar and many other awards. Why is his boyhood home not a museum?
Yup! A year from now, Michael Jackson's Gary home will be boarded up with plywood and surrounded with 5-foot tall weeds, old tires and junk cars!
Gary Mayor Rudy Clay, this should not be your time in the limelight. Pack up your sideburns in a hope chest. This is little angel Jada's and Michael Jackson's time.
Of Note (Unrelated):
Actor Karl Malden (Mladen Sekulovich) died today, at age 97. Malden was born, raised and educated (Emerson H.S.) in Gary. He worked in the mills before embarking on his acting career. His cinematic credits include "A Streetcar Named Desire," "On the Waterfront," "Patton" and "Streets of San Franciso." Among his many accomplishments is the fact his marriage was one of 70 + years!
Gary Mayor Rudy Clay said his thoughts go out to Malden's family. "We're going to pay tribute to Karl Malden," Clay said. "He was a good actor. He was a great actor.
Clay: Jackson Family Rep Suggests
Date
Compiled from a Post-Trib
Report by Jon Seidel
[1 Jul 2009]
GARY -- Mayor Rudy Clay said a spokesperson for Michael Jackson's family suggested July 10 as the best date for a memorial service in the pop star's hometown. That suggestion was made, Clay said, as the mayor continued to ask that Jackson's body lie in state in Gary before his funeral. "I believe it's going to happen," Clay said. "It may not happen, but I believe it will."
The city of Gary is planning for a public memorial for 6 p.m. July 10 at the U.S. Steel Yard baseball stadium. Clay said the site was chosen for logistical purposes, but also because it was the site of one of Jackson's last public appearances in Gary.
"We are the children that were raised with Michael Jackson," Clay said, "and Michael Jackson put Gary, Ind., on the world map. We're going to have a first-class memorial fit for a king."
The family has been invited to attend, but Clay said there's been no word if anyone plans to be there. Details of the local memorial are also murky, as a city spokeswoman said a planning committee has yet to meet. Clay said several volunteers have already stepped up to help with the service. "We're getting tremendous support," Clay said.
Jackson's Will to be Filed
Wednesday Jackson's will was to be filed Wednesday in Los Angeles. A person with
knowledge of the document told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it gives
guardianship over his children to the singer's mother and leaves all his assets
in a trust fund. The will was signed on July 7, 2002. The family said in court documents
Monday that it believed the 50-year-old entertainer died Thursday without a
valid will and moved swiftly to take control over his lucrative, but
debt-encumbered, estate. More details emerged Tuesday about the recent state of Jackson's
finances. In the most detailed account yet of the singer's tangled
financial empire, documents obtained by the AP show Jackson claimed to have a
net worth of $236.6 million as of March 31, 2007. Experts said the personal bankruptcy of Jackson's parents in 1999 could work
against Katherine taking control of the estate. Court documents show Katherine and Joe Jackson filed for Chapter 7 and listed
nearly $24 million in debts that included court judgments, auto loans and credit
cards. The only valuable asset listed was a house in Las Vegas then valued
at $290,000. The bankruptcy was terminated in March 2007. Friends, Family Used Michael Many performers can impress or delight, but only a few can astonish. Jackson
had flaws and weaknesses, to put it mildly, but so do we all. Money and
celebrity make it possible for the rich and famous to succumb to their worst
instincts. The blood-sucking parasites who surrounded Jackson all his life
made that surrender not just possible, but inevitable. Jackson's
sycophants cared only about keeping the meal ticket happy. Even if only in
self-interest, they should have cared more about keeping him alive. From the beginning -- from the moment when Joe and Katherine Jackson decided
to mold their children not into a family but into an act -- Michael was the meal
ticket. Jackson has said his father used to beat him. Joe Jackson always has
denied being physically abusive, but in a sense it doesn't matter. It
seems to me that attaching oneself to one's young son like a leech and denying
that boy any semblance of childhood qualifies as abuse. When Michael set out on his own, he was able to make his own decisions for
the first time. But he had had no practice in making decisions. His
personal choices were incompetent, unwise and increasingly bizarre. I believe Jackson's story that he suffered from the skin disease vitiligo --
though I don't believe vitiligo or any other infirmity was the reason for the
disfiguring plastic surgery that turned his face into a pale, taut mask.
It had to be self-hatred -- not necessarily an attempt to make himself "white"
but to make himself hideous. Post-Trib "Quickly" MJ Comments I beg your pardon, Mayor Clay. The steel mills put Gary, Indiana, on
the map, not Michael Jackson. And Meredith Willson's song "Gary, Indiana"
in "The Music Man" was an added bonus. . . What did you ever do for Michael Jackson and his family that you think you
all deserve his help? Michael Jackson and his family do not owe the city
of Gary, nor the people of Gary, anything. We should call Gary the "You
Owe Us" city. Listen to yourselves.. . Custody of Jackson Children After hearing that Katherine Jackson won custody of Michael Jackson's
children, my first response was this: Look what his parents did to
him. What kind of damage are they going to inflict upon his kids? What are the alternatives for his kids; Paris, 12, Prince Michael, 11, and
seven-year-old Prince Michael II, otherwise known as "Blanket?'' Debbie Rowe, their mom, apprently doesn't want custody of them. She's
reportedly said of herself, "I was never a good mother'' and claims she bore
them for Jackson as a "gift.'' Despite Michael Jackson's insistence that
he was their biological father, she claims he wasn't. The latest rumor is
that their dad is Michael Jackson's dermotologist. (Other reports claim,
Debbie Rowe wasn't their biological mother, but merely a
surrogate.)
Compiled From an AP
Report
[1 Jul 2009]
________________
[Comment -GDY]: Purportedly,
and not at all surprisingly, the will leaves not a penny of the $236.6
Mil to "Dear ol' Dad!"
[1 Jul
2009]
[30 Jun 2009]
Post-Trib
"Quickly" Column
[30 Jun
2009]
Was Michael Jackson really from Gary? He never acknowledged he was. Oh yeah, he did come back one time. Have a funeral in Gary? Yeah right. At whose expense? Hey, maybe some of his fans can help out. After all, he was $400 million. .
I don't understand why some people think Michael Jackson owed something to Gary or that he should have visited more. It has been said he had an abusive childhood, so maybe the thought of Gary brought back bad memories. . .
Mayor Rudy Clay, leave the Jackson family alone. They are grieving. They did not lose a "superstar. They lost their son and their brother. Their hearts are hurting. Stop trying to get his body flown half way across the country so Gary can have its 15 minutes. Gary needs a heck of a lot more than 15 minutes. Go invest in a bulldozer. . .
Joe Jackson,
Returns to Spotlight with Son's Death
By Jake Coyle, AP Entertainment Writer
AP writers
Anthony McCartney and Alicia Quarles contributed to this report.
© 2009 The
Associated Press.
On Sunday at the BET Awards, Joe Jackson spoke vaguely of a new record
company he is launching with Marshall Thompson, lead singer of the
Chi-Lites. He again discussed the label at a news conference Monday in
front of the family's Encino home, along with the Rev. Al Sharpton.
________________
[Comment -GDY]: His son dies
on Friday. On Sunday and Monday "Dear Ol' Dad" is out there, TCB'ng;
pushing his new record company. It must be the stress causing
him to act like a cold-hearted bastard?
JACKSON FAMILY
ISSUES STATEMENT
Transcript of statement issued by the family of Michael Jackson
through People magazine:
"In one of the darkest moments of our lives we find it hard to find the words
appropriate to this sudden tragedy we all had to encounter. It leaves us,
his family, speechless and devastated to a point, where communication with the
outside world seems almost impossible at times. Garyites React "Michael is the biggest money-maker from this city, period," Moore told
me. "Sad he hasn't remembered where he came from." Another Gary resident told me flatly, "He's not one of us. He's a
Hollywood freak." I am sorry that Michael Jackson is dead. His talent was undeniable and
huge. That being said, he was an entertainer, not God. He lived in
Gary until he was 9 or 10 and then moved away. He came back, what,
once? Twice? He forgot his roots and never did anything for the city
or the people here. Why is everyone flocking to the house where he was
raised? Since the the first reports Thursday that the city's
most-famous son, pop icon Michael Jackson, had died, the tiny house at 23rd
Avenue and Jackson Street has become a popular backdrop for broadcast news
crews, a makeshift shrine for fans and a general curiosity. The home has become a small center of commerce in an
otherwise depressed neighborhood. A copy of the bootleg CD of Jackson's
hits playing on a lone boom box can be had for $5, bottled water for $1.
There is no sign of the hot dog cart that had parked across the street Friday
afternoon. The Jacksons made it one of the most famous addresses in the
world when they titled their final album as a quintet "2300 Jackson Street," and
released an eponymous single. Jackson spoke often of his lost childhood and abuse he
suffered at the hands of his father, Joe Jackson -- much of it apparently within
the walls of 2300 Jackson. Little wonder he made only two public visits to
the house after the Jackson 5 moved to California. Regarding the white-sided house from the pavement of Jackson
Street on Saturday, Catherine Theriault of St. Petersburg, Fla., asked a
deceptively simple question. "So is the city going to make a museum out of
it or something?" Mayor Rudy Clay, who spent more than eight hours among the
crowd outside the Jackson house Friday, said he had asked Joseph Jackson to bury
his son in Gary. "If it's ashes to ashes and dust to dust, the body should
go back to where it came from, and should come to Gary," said Clay. "He
lived his life in California, but his heart was here," he said. "They sang
a song about 2300 Jackson Street. They didn't sing about Wilshire
Boulevard." By Friday afternoon, Mayor Rudy had downscaled his wish to
host Jackson's funeral to a request that the body lay in state at the downtown
Genesis Convention Center, and that the funeral be simulcast there. The two-bedroom frame house is perhaps all his former
hometown can claim of one of the world's most famous
entertainers. The mayor said he hopes fans will
start to flock to Gary like people visit Elvis Presley's home in Memphis,
Tennessee. Genesis Center to Host Jackson Memorial A memorial service for Michael Jackson at Gary's Genesis Center has been
tentatively scheduled for next week. Mayor Rudy Clay, who spent another day outside Jackson's boyhood home Sunday,
said the date and time of the service will be confirmed today. "He put
Gary, Indiana, on the map worldwide," Clay said. Clay said he is still trying to convince Jackson's family to let his body lie
in state in Gary for a few days before Jackson is buried. "I feel real
good," Clay said of the talks with the family.
________________
[Comment -GDY]:
So devastated that Dad (Joe Jackson) manages a live appearaance,
Sunday, on the 9th Annual BET Awards? As I have indicated on my blog,
"Folks, you ain't seen nothin' yet!" Wait 'til you see the family feud
that erupts over who gets control over whatever Michael may have left
behind!
WHAT
WILL BECOME OF 2300 JACKSON ST.?
By Andy Grimm,
Post-Trib
[28 Jun 2009]
________________
[Comment
-GDY]: Rudy is looking at a potential souce of revenue
generation. His heart/interest do not lie in honoring "Jacko,"
one may be sure.
[29 Jun 2009]
________________
[Comment -GDY]: If it
happens, which I doubt, it will not be because of Rudy, and it will be a fiasco
of major proportions.
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